If you are running Crown of Axis, there are a couple places that suggest running a montage—a type of group storytelling that entered 13th Age thanks to ASH LAW’s work on our Organized Play adventures. Here are the rules for montages as they appeared in the 13th Age GM’s Screen and Resource Book. You can find more examples in that book.

Empowering Players Through Montages

Sometimes you don’t want to take the time to go into the details of a trip or activity the heroes are undertaking but do want to give a sense of time passing and what’s happening to the heroes during that period. Whether it’s overland travel, random dungeon exploration, or even fortifying an old farmhouse against zombies, you can use montages to quickly advance the story while co-creating events and interactions that may contribute in surprising ways later in the session or the campaign.

Start with a player who is comfortable improvising and ask them to describe a problem that the party faces as they travel or undertake an activity, without offering a solution. Then turn to the player to the left of the starting player and ask them how their PC does something clever or awesome to solve the problem. After they narrate a solution, ask that same player to describe the next obstacle that the group must deal with. The next player clockwise gets to solve the new problem, then offer up a new obstacle, and so on around the table until everyone has invented and solved a problem.

Encourage players creating solutions to draw on any aspect of their character or invent something new, but don’t call for any die rolls, even when the solution to a challenge involves combat. These events occur in quick narrative time, and allow the players to invent stories to reinforce their characters’ defining qualities, whether those details involve icon relationships, uniques, or backgrounds. Their stories can also mention the use of powers their PCs might have, but they won’t actually use any resources in providing a solution. Pay attention to the vignettes the players create for the montage, because those story elements provide excellent source material you can revisit later in the campaign to strengthen each PC’s story. When you do so, it reinforces the idea that you and the players are creating a shared story experience as they see elements they created come into play.

While the players are generating their obstacles and ways to overcome those challenges, you (the GM) still play a part in the montage stories. As each player tells you how their PC solved the problem, narrate back to the group what that PC did, but put a spin on it to highlight the character’s heroism, wit, or humor. You don’t want to change the core idea they give you too much, but this is your chance to add small details about the PC and the world that help make the story come alive for the players, possibly revealing new information to them or even foreshadowing events to come.

Depending on your group, keep in mind that players will start with different comfort levels with the montage process. Some players will offer so many details and wild ideas that you won’t have much to add when you play the scene back with embellishments. Other players will choose to provide the bare minimum. It’s okay if you or even the other players offer suggestions to reluctant talkers to help flesh out a problem or solution, but the player should always have final say on what they present. After seeing what other players come up with in a few montages, the process should become smoother for everyone, with more wild, creative, inspirational, and fun outcomes. Once players see something they narrate re-enter the game in some way at a later point, they’ll be more likely to offer up stories they care about.

One last note. Not every description is created equal, but each description is valid in its own right. The player who suggests an obstacle of “I lose my left boot and begin tripping everywhere I go” is as valid an option as another player who says “A pack of giant slavers begins tracking the party.” As GM, you might suggest that the first PC’s tripping problem causes a ruckus with someone they fall into who wants to squash them, to add an element of danger or conflict for the next player to resolve, but let the group decide what’s fun for them.

Example 1: Shipping to New Port

Here’s an example of the montage rules in play. The players have hired a ship in Axis and are traveling to New Port, a trip of up to a week depending on the winds. The GM doesn’t have any specific encounters in mind until they reach New Port, so it’s time for a montage of the trip by the players. The GM shows the players the Dragon Empire map, to give them an idea of the geography in case anyone needs some inspiration.

Problem (player 1): “Soon after leaving Azure Bay, the ship gets dry docked on the back of a giant sea turtle that breaches. We’re stuck, and the turtle is going south not east.”

Solution (player 2): “This isn’t a problem. My master revealed a secret about turtles to me when I was a girl. The back of their necks are ticklish, and they’ll go underwater to make that stop. I tickle the giant turtle and it dives into the sea.”

GM embellishment: “In an act of amazing bravery and skill, [player 2’s PC] tickles the turtle. As it suddenly descends, she runs like a gazelle across the water-slick shell, leaping to the ship’s rigging just before the vortex of sea from the turtle’s descent pulls her into the depths.”

There’s more: Additionally, Crown of Axis builds on the above rule to create a new type of montage – the Investigation Montage. See Crown of Axis for the complete rules on this type of montage scene.